The Grand Spirits of India

Led by people like him, Indians today are, as much a lost people, as a humiliated one, because we have been made to believe that our ancient traditional values are not relevant any more. Among those values were frugality, fear of debt, backyard gardens, respect for the seasons and the right things to do by them. Together, they add up to an ecologically sensitive life. Abandoning these, we seek to model ourselves on aggressive societies bred during the Industrial Revolution, with little hope of ever matching the muscular efficiency of the industrialised societies. No doubt the economy matters, and technology too, but because the environment matters most of all, all human action must be in service of the Spirits. Therein would lie a wholesome religious life. If instead we turn to the exclusive worship of mammon, as we seem to now, the spurned Grand Spirits will prevail and cast away man.

I first met Sreenivas Ghatty in 2003 in Bangalore. We were at a conference on tree based biodiesel. I actually sat in the section reserved for […]

Pointers

“Our gross national product counts air pollution and cigarette advertising, and ambulances to clear our highways of carnage. It counts special locks for our doors, and the jails for the people who break them. It counts the destruction of the redwoods, and the loss of our natural wonder in chaotic sprawl. It counts napalm, nuclear warheads, and armored cars for the police to fight the riots in our cities. Yet the gross national product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education, or the joy of their play. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages, the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials. It measures neither our wit nor our courage, neither our wisdom nor our learning, neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country. It measures everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile.”:: R F KennedyVideo